| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand sez Bali attack wasn't plotted from its territory... |
| 2002-11-07 |
| Thailand denied a report in the Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) which claimed Thursday, November 7, that Al-Qaedaâs top South-east Asian operative, Riduan Isamuddin Alias Hambali, earlier this year planned last month's Bali bombing from locations in southern Thailand. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra dismissed the report, saying it was not based on facts, defending his countryâs intelligentsia in the process. He probably means his country's intelligence agencies... His denial of the report also indicates that Thailand is not ready to accept that separatists in Patani, a southern province, are linked to the Al-Qaeda as suggested by the newspaper. I've noticed that tendency by the Thais. It probably stems from thinking that as Buddhists, they don't have a dog in the Islamist-Western fight. I imagine the illusion will wear off abruptly at some point not far in the future... Confusion and an attempt to blame the Bali bombing on Muslims are running high among Western-owned media and intelligence, a member of the Indonesian Mujahideen Movement (MMI) told IslamOnline in response to the article published in the Wall Street Journal and carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP). âThey are plotting everything against Muslims to the extent that such accusations are being made against Mujahideens knowing they cannot reply since they are in hiding from injustices,â Abdullah Ahmad said. The confusion appears to us to be on the Indon side. They suspect the West of plotting against them, so in response they hatch their own plots. The poor, poor Mujahideens can't reply, because they're hiding from injustices — which are defined as the punishments associated with blowing people up or cutting their heads off... According to the Hong Kong based newspaper, Asian intelligence officials believe that Riduan, an Indonesian Islamic militant, urged Arab and Southeast Asian militants attending a January meeting to attack nightclubs and restaurants in the region. That's because people go to that sort of place to laugh and flirt and drink beer and have fun, and do other un-Islamic things... The paper did not reveal the source of its information and did not produce any factual evidence to support its assertions, the MMI member said. âLikewise the accusations by a U.S. official that Al-Qaeda is threatening to undermine Indonesian democracy is a fallacy and is not supported by any factual evidence,â he added. None that the Indons are willing to believe, anyway... United States Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Indonesia to stop pretending that it does not have a terrorist problem, claiming in an interview with CNN that Al-Qaeda's prime target was Indonesian democracy. He acknowledged in an interview Tuesday, November 5, that Jakarta was now more serious and focused about the problem since the October 12 Bali bombings. But he added: "I still think there are far too many Indonesians who haven't quite heard the call yet. In many ways, the prime target is Indonesian democracy." The reason they "haven't heard the call" is because they don't want to hear it. Many of those who are comfortably ensconced in the power structure are part of the problem, not part of the target... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 Hmph. They can't "hear the call" because they've got their heads in the sand. Or up their A$$e$. Someplace. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2002-11-07 18:13:10 |